This invention generally relates to straps for holding a guitar or other object. More particularly the invention relates to a strap that extends over both shoulders of a guitar player.
Standard guitar straps extend over one shoulder and put all the weight of the guitar on that one shoulder. This can be a serious problem for shoulder, neck, and back after several hours of playing. U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,901 to McIntosh describes a double shouldered guitar strap that shares the weight of the guitar on both shoulders. However, the McIntosh strap has a connection bracket for the two shoulder straps that provides a fixed angle between these straps, so the straps lie in one fixed position on the shoulders. Another dual shoulder strap for playing various instruments is presently offered for sale at Slider-straps.com. These straps are configured similar to a back pack with straps extending both over and under the arms. Neither strap offers a way to adjust position of the strap on the shoulders. Both the McIntosh strap and the Slider-strap are restricted in the range of configurations in which they can be used; for example, neither can be used as a traditional guitar strap over one shoulder. Thus a better design that permits adjusting the location of the straps on the shoulders is needed and that allows the strap to be used either on one shoulder or both shoulders while providing easy adjustment of length and position on the shoulders, and this solution is provided by the following invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a guitar strap for supporting a guitar on two shoulders that has easy adjustments for both strap length and strap position on the shoulders;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a deflection adjuster that permits adjusting the angle between the straps to permit control of location of the straps on the shoulders;
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a strap that can be used either as a dual shoulder strap or as a standard guitar strap on one shoulder;
It is a feature of the present invention to provide the slidable deflection adjuster has a locking mechanism to hold it in a fixed position when weight is applied;
It is a further feature of the present invention that the deflection adjuster has teeth that allow movement when no weight is provided and that restrict movement when weight is applied;
It is an advantage of the present invention that the strap can be used either as a dual shoulder strap or as a familiar single shoulder strap; and
It is a further advantage of the present invention that the strap can be adjusted quickly while being worn.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention are accomplished by a shoulder strap that can be used to support an object on both shoulders. The dual shoulder strap has a first strap and a second strap. The first strap is for placing over a first shoulder of a person wearing the strap and it has a first length adjustment buckle. The second strap is for placing over a second shoulder of the person, and it has a second length adjustment buckle. The dual shoulder strap also has a device for adjusting position of the first strap on the first shoulder and position of the second strap on the second shoulder. The length adjustments and the position adjustments are independently controllable.
Another aspect of the invention is accomplished by a shoulder strap comprising a first strap and a second strap. The first strap has a first end piece, a second end piece, and a center portion between the first end piece and the second end piece. The second strap has a third end piece and a fourth end piece. The third end piece is connected to the center portion of the first strap. The fourth end piece is pivotably connected to the first end piece. The second strap can lie flat directly on the first strap. The shoulder strap can be worn either as a standard strap with both the first strap and the second strap extending over one shoulder or the shoulder strap can be worn as a dual shoulder strap having the first strap extending over one shoulder and the second strap extending over the other shoulder.